Thursday, 24 December 2015

The ten infantry elements are nearly complete but I
thought I would place an update on the Kushite activity with a sample photo and
brief text.

I am pleased with the range of clothing colour which disguises
the fact that these are later period Sudanese. The muted green, blue and beige clothing
are bleached to give a sense of long exposure in the sun and the skin tones and
highlights have a natural sun baked appearance.

Figures were all rebased to group necessary sword
armed types into two blade elements and the remainder now forms five elements
of spear.

The three bow armed elements are Amorite taken from an
Old Glory Biblical range. Their beards have been cut away and their clothing follows
the standard fashion, however these do demonstrate their preference for another
hair style.

The cavalry are Classical Indian types and with an
application of Milliput now have a similar hair style as their brethren and
round shields which replace the oddly shaped ones they carried before. The “Chief”
has a crown similar to the illustration of King Silko done by Angus McBride and
now sports a cloak.

The Milliput should be thoroughly cured tomorrow that
I can finish the cavalry elements. One more day for groundwork and grass, these
should be ready for their final photo this weekend. And this is just in time as
a delivery arrived yesterday with figures for my latest project.

Saturday, 19 December 2015

The Meroitic Kush comprise of two elements cavalry,
infantry wielding spear or blade supported by both formed and skirmishing
archers.

The mounted figures are leftover Indian cavalry and a sparing
use of Milliput was used to fill out the shield to give a circular form and the
hair was modified to conform to the style of the other figures. The general
should have a cloak and head piece similar to the Angus McBride illustration of
King Silko.

The infantry seen below will need to be re-based to build two elements
of blade with the remainder spear armed. Most of these have kilts which will be
painted in a variety of drab colour and leather gear. Skin tone will be
articulated to reveal more muscle and arm bands.

The hair style for the bowmen will also be treated with Milliput and clothing colour will follow a similar pattern as the infantry.

These should not take long to paint up and planning six
different clothing colour plus lighter and dark skin tones should give quite a
variety to the group.

Friday, 11 December 2015

Collecting the Meroitic Kushite or their successors,
the Nobades, is driven by my desire to take less used figures from my
collection and recycle them into a usable army. In this particular case, lacking
British troops for the 1885-98 campaign my Sudanese native collection have remained
unemployed since their re-basing four years ago. As the Severan Project grew in
scope several African kingdoms were added to the “to do” list but were given a
low priority. Now that the Bosporan collection is complete I can look toward the
Sudan as my next area of conflict for the Middle and Late Imperial Romans.

Meroitic
Kush

By the 3rd century AD, the Kingdom of Meroe
was on the decline economically and politically and why this happened remains a
mystery to scholars. Archaeological evidence records Meroitic pyramids at this
time were of smaller dimensions, simpler in appearance and held less burial
objects that previous centuries.

Trade routes that moved along the Nile were now making
better use of the region’s eastern shores to move goods to Arabia and India. Aside
from an economic situation on the wane, Kush’s political future was in a state
of flux as the names of Pharaohs or Kings are no longer recorded.

Rome at this time still held garrisons along the Upper
Nile, so we can surmise the threat from the south was significant enough to
maintain a military presence. Further investigation we find a northward
migration of tribes fleeing from the southern regions that would later become
known as Axum. The influx of these tribes into Kush no doubt added to the
instability and as a consequence the inhabitants moved east. Some regard this
relocation of the Kushite during the 4th century a benchmark for the
people better known as the Blemmye.

Artistic license

This past week I have looked at many illustrations,
rock carvings and murals spanning six or seven centuries and looking at the
figures offered currently, I decided to pursue my original course and build a
rebel army. Whether these are to be titled Blemmye or Nobades is not set in
stone, but I do like the idea of a cobbled collection of scruffy looking
rebels, perhaps modeled after the Meroitic list.

Why this list you might ask? - Look to the terrain differences.

The army lists.

I/58 Meroitic
Kushite 592 BC – 350 AD

1 x General (Cv)

1 x Cavalry (Cv) or Meroitic archers (3Bw or 4Bw)

2 x Meroitic archers (3Bw or 4Bw)

5 x Tribal spearmen (Sp)

2 x Tribal swordsmen (4Bd)

1 x Herdsman with bow (Ps)

Terrain type: Steppe, Aggression 1

Terrain
differences.

If you have not noticed, there are terrain differences
between the lists; the successor kingdoms, the Blemmye, Nobades, and Christian
Nubian have “Dry” as home geography, the Meroitic Kush, “Steppe”.

The grassland plains are the Butana steppe which is devoid of
trees for the most part excepting those areas bordering lakes or rivers. Known
for its iron work Meroitic Kush depended on the forests for their production of
their famed iron work.

Thursday, 3 December 2015

In Phil Barker’s book The Armies and Enemies of
Imperial Rome, the Bosporan Noble lancers of this time period are describe as
similar in appearance to Sarmatian but ride un-armoured horse, light cavalry are
described as Scythian and this may mean their apparel or method of fighting and
citizen infantry have a similar style of uniform as Roman auxilia of the
period.

Noble
Lancers.

The Old Glory Sarmatian shown here all came with
armoured mounts. These figures have been ordered in the past and generally had
a mix of armoured (3x) and un-armoured (6x) per pack and this was not the case,
so all horse were painted with cloth or leather protection. The cloaks, shirt
and trousers of the riders were done in red, blue and purple or madder red to
give a near “Byzantine” look. This was done for no other reason than to make
them distinct from the 24 elements of Sarmatian cavalry in my collection.

Horse
archers.

These are Scythian cavalry and painted with lighter
shades of blue, grey and beige. Trousers, caps and harness were painted in
different shades of brown. I am pleased how these turned out.

Citizen
infantry and archers.

These are Roman auxilia figures and have a uniform appearance
than the mounted units. The bowmen (3Bw and Ps) are Palmyran figures sporting
boots, trousers and tunic with some wearing a cap or are bareheaded. These
represent the Sindi and Maiotian farmers that fought as archers.

Mobile
artillery.

The mule cart is scratch-built from thin triplex and
scored. Fixed on an extra Napoleonic limber the cart is pulled by mules from
the OG Colonial baggage pack. There has been some discussion at Fanaticus
whether the bolt-thrower was fired from the cart or transported to a location
and assembled for use. I opted for the latter as all the pieces looked much better
when placed on a 40 x 40 mm base.